Going for Gold - next steps

Local democracy matters

What we've done so far

• carried out the first ever public consultation about the level of Council Tax and how the Council should spend its budget
  
  
• introduced public speaking rights at all committees and full Council
  
  
• consulted young people about their priorities, with a real budget at stake 
  
  
• demanded higher standards of public consultation by developers over planning applications
  
  
• begun to look at ways to devolve power to the city's neighbourhoods. The introduction of the neighbourhood ranger service and area Tidy Teams are the first steps in giving local people more say in how services operate

Next Steps

• Central government is showing signs of wanting to control and constrain local councils to an ever greater degree, reducing the value of local democracy. Nationally and locally the Liberal Democrats oppose this trend. We are the only party that is genuinely committed to local government, and we will continue to demand that central government gives local councils the freedom and resources they need to serve the public 
  
  
• We will make consult you about the decentralisation of some decision making to area committees, to bring the Council closer to local communities and give people the power to make decisions about their neighbourhoods
  
  
• As directed by government the Council is preparing a new constitution. We are making sure that this constitution will be as open and participative as possible within limits set by central government
  
  
• We will continue to develop the Council's use of new technology to give you easier access to the Council, for example through email polling and development of an interactive web site
  
  
• We will continue to listen to you through the Citizens' Survey, the budget consultation process and through the close links between councillors and  ward residents. We will make sure that our policies continue to be in line with your priorities.